The Dark Army
by CC the Destroyer
Summary: Something strange is happening at Hogwarts. Students from every House vanish in the middle of the night without a trace and turn up the next morning zombified! Not to worry! First year Aschli Rose is on the case! Along with her trusty ginger sidekicks! RE-WRITTEN and RE-PUBLISHED.


_**Hello everyone! As I've realized it's been a while since I've updated/written something new, I've decided to re-write one of my stories. If you are familiar with my older work, you'll remember my first Harry Potter story: The Dark Army. Well, I was reading through it and decided I could do much, MUCH better with the story, as well as make it longer (which the original was only 20 chapters). So, anyway, here is the first chapter of the RE-WRITTEN story, The Dark Army. I hope you enjoy!**_

_**DISCLAIMER: CC does not own Harry Potter. All unfamiliar characters belong to her. The rest of the wizarding world and its people belong to our queen.**_

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_"Aunty Kemera, why are you crying?"_

_The young woman brought her head up from her hands, tears streaming down her face and into her dark blue handkerchief. A little blonde girl stood in the doorway leading into the sitting room, her favorite teddy bear hanging limp in her hand. Kemera only cried harder. She cradled her head in her hands once again._

_"Aunty Kemera?"_

_"Oh, Aschli dear," Kemera sobbed, "You shouldn't be down here. You should be in bed."_

_"I heard someone crying," the blonde said, "The sound scared me. I thought you were hurt. What happened?"_

_Little hands cupped the older woman's face and brought it from her handkerchief. Aschli's silvery eyes were so innocent they only broke Kemera's heart just a little bit more._

_"You are so young," she whispered, feeling fresh tears brimming, "You shouldn't have to find out this way."_

_"What's happened? Are Mummy and Daddy okay?" Aschli looked slightly panicked._

_When Kemera didn't answer the young girl's face contorted into many different emotions before she began crying, softly at first then more loudly, shaking her head and attempting to stand upright as her knees buckled._

_Kemera gathered her niece in her arms and rocked her gently, the tears beginning to flow again, "Hush little one. Everything will be alright. They wouldn't want you to be sad. Please don't cry..."_

_"W-why?" Aschli hiccuped, "W-why di- hiccup- d they l-l-leave me here? Don- hiccup- don't t-they love me an-nymore?"_

_Kemera's heart splintered, "You know they loved you baby. Knowing that should be enough. I know this hurts, and believe me I wish I could take this pain away from you. You just have to be strong. Be brave, for them."_

_Aschli sobbed loudly for hours in her aunt's arms, her tears staining the soft blue fabric of her shirt. Finally, the young girl's body relaxed. She sat up slowly._

_"Okay," she said, her face puffy and red from crying, "I'll do it. I'll be brave. Just for them."_

_"Are you okay?" Kemera asked, stroking the girl's hair, "Are you tired?"_

_Aschli nodded her head, rubbing her eyes, "Will you sing to me tonight? Just like Mummy use to?"_

_Kemera smiled gently, "Of course I will. Let's go upstairs."_

_She carried Aschli in her arms towards the stairs, walking on her toes so she didn't disturb the portraits sleeping soundly in their frames._

_"Aunty Kemera?" Aschli muttered sleepily._

_"Mmm?"_

_"Can I sleep with you tonight? Uncle Jakelob won't mind will he?"_

_"Of course you can," Kemera whispered._

_"Okay," she nuzzled closer into her aunt's shoulder._

_The young girl was asleep before they reached the bedroom._  
_

_Knock knock knock!_

Aschli Rose groaned in her sleep. _Who in the name of Merlin is knocking on my door this early in the morning?_ she rolled over, hoping that the person would get bored with knocking and just go away.

How wrong she was.

_Knock knock knock!_

"What?" Aschli called out, rather harshly.

"It's time to get up Asch," her aunt's voice floated in to her from under the crack in her door, "I have a surprise for you."

"What is it?" Aschli growled. She hated surprises. The last time she had received a surprise was on her eighth birthday when her uncle Jakelob had hid in her wardrobe and jumped out at her with jinxed sparklers that nearly caught the curtains on fire.

"This is a good one," Kemera chuckled, clearly thinking of the same incident, "I promise. C'mon, get dressed and come downstairs."

Aschli took this time to peek at her alarm clock, "It's bloody eight in the morning! Kemera, have you truly lost it?"

"You can sleep when your dead, now get a move on," she heard her aunt's footsteps retreat down the hallway.

With a small grunt, Aschli swung her legs over the side of her bed and stretched, feeling every bone in her spine crack pleasantly, before standing and gathering up the clothes she was to wear for the day.

She threw open her bedroom door and shuffled to the bathroom. Undressing was quite a challenge this morning. Her head caught in the neck of her night shirt causing her to stumble around, hitting her head off of the wall and towel rack next to the tub. Finally, with bruises and battle scars to show for her efforts, Aschli climbed into the tub and turned the water on as hot as it would go.

The scorch washed away every ounce of exhaustion down the drain, leaving her wide awake and alert and slightly pink. She stayed in the warm stream until the water ran cold.

After dressing and yanking a brush through her waist-length silvery blonde hair, she skipped down the stairs while braiding a lock behind her left ear.

"Good morning Aschli. You're up early," one of the portraits greeted.

"Good morning Grandma Mable," Aschli smiled, "Kemera says she has something for me. A surprise, she says."

"A surprise? But I thought you hated surprises," Grandma Mable chuckled.

"I know," she rolled her eyes and entered the kitchen.

The room was alive with the smells of food and the sizzle pop of sausages cooking in the frying pan. The kettle began whistling when she took a seat.

"So what's the surprise?" Aschli cringed.

"I'm waiting for Jakelob to return home," Kemera replied. She was standing at the stove, wand ready, watching a batch of pancakes on the skillet as well as a few sausages. She waved her wand and the kettle settled itself on an unlit burner.

"Oh no," Aschli groaned, "He's not going to crash through the wall or fall from the ceiling or anything like that is he?"

"No, I'm sure he learned his lesson from when you were eight," Kemera laughed.

The door to the kitchen opened and her uncle entered in his Ministry robes with a copy of the Daily Prophet tucked under his arm, "Good morning all. So Asch, are you ready for some exciting news?"

"I'm just dying from the anticipation," she said, waiting for some kind of explosion to happen. It never did. Instead, Jakelob pulled a rather thick envelope from his cloak and pressed it in her hands, "What's this?"

"Why don't you read it?" Jakelob sat at the head of the table and waited with the largest grin Aschli had ever seen plastered on his face.

She glanced down at the parchment-like envelope. It was written in emerald green ink and addressed to her:

_Ms. Aschli Rose_  
_49 Ross Place_  
_Smallest Bedroom_  
_Hampshire_

Furrowing her eyebrows, she flipped it over. It was held closed by a purple wax seal resembling a coat of arms with a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter H. She ripped open the seal and took out the first letter. Her heart fluttered in her chest as she read the first line.

"I got accepted to Hogwarts?" she cried happily.

"And we're going to Diagonal Alley to get all of your things," Kemera smiled, setting a plate of pancakes and sausages in front of her as well as a mug full of tea, "So eat up."

"What House do you suppose you'll be in?" Jakelob asked, "Have you decided a favorite yet?"

"Jake," Kemera sighed, "How is she suppose to know what House she's going to be in? Our family generations have been in all four."

"Fair enough," he said. Then he smiled, "The Sorting Hat put me in Ravenclaw. _'So much courage! You could do great things in Gryffindor! But... So much more intelligence than the average first year...'_"

"What a very accurate imitation of the Sorting Hat," Kemera chuckled.

"What House were you in Aunt Kemera?" Aschli asked.

"The Sorting Hat put me in Hufflepuff," Kemera replied, almost visibly shivering, "Dreadful House. Everyone was so _nice_."

Aschli, who was taking a sip of her tea, snorted into her cup. Jakelob smoothed out the pages of the Daily Prophet on the table in front of him, "Hufflepuffs always seem to know how to stay out of trouble, but you always seemed to go looking for it. I don't even know how many times I caught you out of bed when you were suppose to be sleeping."

"And you never had the heart to stop me, Mr. Prefect," Kemera gave her husband an innocent smile.

Aschli, in her excitement, began shoveling large portions of food into her mouth. That earned her a grimace from her aunt, "Slow down, Asch. You might pull something," she said.

"Sorry," Aschli swallowed her food with a sheepish smile.

After breakfast was cleared (magically of course) Aschli and Kemera were huddled by the front door with Aschli's letter in hand. There had been a second letter in the envelope they hadn't seen before. It was a list of all the things Aschli would need for school.

"Robes, a cauldron, potions ingredients..." she murmured to herself.

"Did you say something?" Kemera, who had been poking around in her handbag, asked.

"No, nothing," Aschli said, stowing her letter away in her cloak, "Are we ready?"

"Not quite... Aha!" Kemera jingled her car keys triumphantly in the air, There we are. Alright, let's be off then. We've got a long ride ahead of us."

Kemera, unlike other witches and wizards, was uncomfortable with traveling by broom or Floo Network and avoided both if she could help it. Instead, she relied on an old, rusty black pickup truck that sat in their cracked driveway. They slid into the cab and soon they were driving down the street and on their way to London.

"Have you got your list?" Kemera asked as they maneuvered the crowded streets several hours later, "We're nearly there."

Aschli pulled her letter from her cloak, "How am I going to pay for all of this? I haven't any money."

Kemera pulled the truck over next to a row of shops and turned the engine off. She reached into her own cloak and pulled out a black velvet pouch, "Your uncle and I received the fund your parents had set aside for you. This is just a small amount of it. The rest is at home in a vault."

"They left me a fund?" Aschli asked.

"Not just a fund. They left you a small fortune!" Kemera chuckled, "C'mon. Let's go and get your things."

Aschli followed closely behind Kemera as she led her to a shabby corner pub with a sign above the door that read The Leaky Cauldron.

The pub was dim and buzzed with the low murmur of chatter coming from the witches and wizards seated in different areas. The bartender, who was bald and rather toothless, looked up from a glass he was cleaning with a stained rag.

"Hello Kemera," he greeted, "Long time, no see. The usual I suppose?"

"Not today Tom," Kemera replied, "But I'll be back soon."

She led Aschli to the very back of the pub, through a door, and into a small space where the garbage cans were kept. Pulling her wand from her cloak, she tapped a few bricks on the wall opposite the pub. At first, nothing happened. Then, one of the bricks began shivering. It trembled - it shook violently - and suddenly a small hole appeared. The opening grew wider until it formed an archway leading out into a cobble stone street that twisted and turned out of sight. Dozens of witches and wizards bustled along passed the shops. Children gawked into the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies ("The new Comet model looks fantastic!"). Owls hooted from their cages in front of Eeylops Owl Emporium. Aschli only wished she had the visual capacity to take all of it in.

"You go get your robes," Kemera handed her a few golden galleons, "I'll get your potions supplies and your books."

She steered Aschli in the direction of Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and vanished in a wave of gossiping witches. Madam Malkin herself was a squat witch dressed in all mauve. She bustled over to Aschli with a gentle smile.

"Hogwarts, dear?" she asked. Aschli nodded, "Come this way then."

She stood Aschli on a stool in front of a large mirror and threw black fabric over her head, pinning it in places so it would fit.

"Are you nervous about your first year at Hogwarts, dear?" Madam Malkin asked after a while, bustling around to pin the other side.

"Very," Aschli nodded, "But I'm sure everyone feels like that right?"

"Naturally," Madam Malkin smiled up at her, "You're all done, dear."

"Already?" she hopped down from the stool and, after paying for her new robes, left the shop with the bundled package. Kemera was waiting for her outside.

"I'll take those," she took Aschli's robes and placed them in the cauldron at her feet, "Would you like to shop around before we go and get your wand?" She presented her niece with the velvet pouch again.

"Yeah. I wanted to check out the pet shop," Aschli beamed.

"You do what you want," Kemera said, "I'll be in the bookshop. Meet me at Ollivander's in an hour."

Aschli wasn't sure where to begin. She peeked inside the Quality Quidditch Supplies and sighed longingly at the sight of the Quidditch robes on display. She dreaamed of playing Quidditch ever since her uncle first brought her to the backyard to play with her, throwing apples and golf balls around while racing on brooms. She tore herself away after a heated argument with herself and bought a large strawberry and chocolate ice cream cone which she ate happily while window shopping. The apothecary had something bubbling in a cauldron just outside the door. A witch stirred whatever was inside as people passed. They were immediately drawn by the smell. As Aschli drew closer she could tell why. Whatever the witch was brewing smelled wonderful - like wood smoke and a vague smell of mint and musk.

Outside of Magical Menagerie, Aschli spotted the prettiest black cat with bright yellow eyes. It pawed at her from it's window display as if it wanted her to come inside and play. She smiled at it and poked the glass gently. The animal's mouth moved but the glass kept the sound from reaching her ears.

"Watch out!"

Aschli whirled around in time to see a full trolley racing towards her. Without any time to jump out of the way, the cart smashed directly into her stomach, knocking her off her feet and causing her to crack her head off of the window sill. Then, the sound of something like a gunshot, and her hand felt as if it her on fire. A pained gasp escaped her mouth. Her head spun and throbbed where she had landed.

"Blimey, I'm so sorry about that. We told you to watch out," a pair of hands grabbed her by the shoulders and hauled her gently to her feet, "Are you alright?"

A pair of boys with flaming red hair and blue eyes were smiling at her. They were identical. Twins, she thought stupidly. Aschli blinked when she realized she was staring.

"Oh, s-sorry," she stammered as she brushed off her jeans. The twin on the right was holding on to the trolley that had smashed into her. On it were two large trunks.

"Lost control of the cart," he said, holding out a hand, "Fred Weasley. This is my brother George."

"Asch-" she was cut off by a stabbing pain that shot from the back of her hand to her shoulder as she took Fred's. Aschli tugged her hand back and saw that it was covered in scorching burns.

"Damn! Sorry!" Fred stared apologetically at her hand, "Exploding Snap cards must have fallen out of their box."

"_That's_ what that was?" she asked, turning her hand over and over, "It sounded like a gun shot... What is Exploding Snap anyway?"

Fred and George stared at her with such shock that she was wondering if she had said something wrong.

"You've never played Exploding Snap?" George asked. Aschli shook her head.

"My aunt never allowed it in the house," she explained, "Said it was too dangerous."

Fred chuckled, "She right about it being dangerous-"

"- But that's what makes it so great-" George chimed.

"- And it is the greatest game-"

"- That explodes!" they finished together, imitating a small explosion.

"Yes, I gathered that," Aschli held up her burnt hand, smiling. Guilt flashed across Fred's face again as she glanced down at her watch, "Oh, I have to get going. It was nice meeting you, Fred, George."

As she hurried away, Fred called after her, "We'll teach you how to play the game properly next time!"

Aschli squeezed through crowds of witches and wizards and passed a poor boy who was carrying a large stack of books, a cauldron, an owl cage, and a few wrapped packages. His knees buckled under the weight of it all but he was out of sight before she could stop to help.

Ollivander's was a shabby, narrow shop at the very end of the street. A sign in peeling gold letters above the shop door read: Ollivander's: Makers of Fine Wands Since 382 b.c. There was a wand sitting on a faded purple pillow in the dusty window. Kemera was waiting by the door with the rest of her school things.

"There you are! You're five minutes late," she wrapped her arms around Aschli's shoulders, "What were you doing?"

Aschli pulled the long sleeve of her shirt over the burn on the back of her hand, "Sorry. I got distracted in front of the Quidditch shop."

"Oh well, at least you're here," Kemera said, "C'mon then. Let's go get your wand."

This was the part Aschli had been looking forward to the most. Excitement welled up inside of her as she pushed open the door of the shop. A bell rang somewhere from inside as they entered. It was a tiny, narrow place, empty, except for a single chair sitting underneath the window in the corner. She approached the dusty counter, observing the ceiling-high stacks of black boxes against the walls. She cleared her throat, breaking the dreadful silence that surrounded her. A man stepped around the corner. Aschli jumped back, startled.

"Hello," he said, gazing at her with misty eyes.

"H-hello," Aschli gasped. She could feel her heart crashing in her chest as if it wanted to burst from her rib cage and take cover under the one chair.

Mr. Ollivander glanced up at Kemera. A smile spread across his pale face, "Kemera!" he said happily, "Good to see you again. I remember when you came in here for your first wand. Fourteen inches, dragon heartstring, pliable, and made of mahogany. Great wand for defensive spells and counter curses."

Kemera nodded, "Yes, and has proved useful for many years now."

"Of course it has," Ollivander sniffed with a playful wink. He turned his attention back to Aschli, "Now, which hand is your wand hand?"

"Uhm, well..." she held out both of her hands, "I can use both... But I suppose I use my left the most."

Without blinking, Mr. Ollivander reached into his robes and pulled out a tape measure and began measuring every inch possible of Aschli's arm, including places that seemed quite silly, like the area of space from her left ear to her right.

"That will do," he said. The tape measure, which she just realized was measuring by itself, dropped to the floor with a noisy clatter. Mr. Ollivander was skimming over the piles of boxes carefully, humming and tapping his chin. Finally, he plucked a box from one of the piles and brought it over to her, "Maple and phoenix feather. Ten inches. Just take it and give it a wave."

He handed her the wand and she waved it once. Nothing happened. Slightly disappointed, she handed it back to Ollivander who tut tut'd back to the pile of boxes. Soon he was back with another.

"Willow and dragon heartstring. Try."

Aschli took the wand only for it to be taken back again.

"No, no, no... That'll never do," he went back to the boxes, muttering furiously to himself until...

"Ahh..." he pulled one last box from one of the piles and approached her slowly, "Ash and unicorn hair. Eleven and a half inches," Mr. Ollivander handed her the wand.

Immediately, Aschli felt a strange, comforting warmth spread throughout her body as she took it. Mr. Ollivander clapped with joy.

"Very good, very good!" he exclaimed, finally blinking his pale eyes.

Aschli paid Ollivander for her new wand and, without another word, hurried out of the shop. She was glad to see the sunlight again.

"Looks like we've gotten everything on your list," Kemera folded up the parchment and tucked it inside her cloak, "Asch... What happened to your hand?"

Aschli, who had absentmindedly reached up to scratch her temple (which still throbbed dully) with her burnt hand, quickly dropped it, "Oh, uh... Had a little accident earlier... With Exploding Snap cards..." she muttered.

Kemera let out an exasperated groan, "What have I told you? You know how I feel about that game."

"I know, it's dangerous..." Aschli said, "But it wasn't my fault! These two boys lost control of their trolley and it hit me and I guess a few cards fell out of their pack and onto my hand..."

Her aunt sighed, "Well, let's get you home and take care of it. We'll have to do it the Muggle way... I don't know anything about treating burns magically. And you'll have some scars afterwards."

They walked back up the cobble street, carrying all of Aschli's things, pushing through more waves of witches and wizards to reach the brick wall from which they had entered. As Kemera tapped the wall with her wand, Aschli saw Fred and George Weasley playing Exploding Snap in the mouth of an alleyway. Fred Weasley glanced up and winked at her as the bricks re-positioned themselves, leaving Aschli looking at a solid wall.

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_**I hope you enjoyed this first chapter! If you are returning, welcome back! And thanks for sticking around :) if you're a new reader, don't be shy to leave a review! Any kind of feedback is welcome (except maybe flames... because let's face facts here, nobody likes to receive flames). Anyway, if you **_**are _returning, you'll remember I have amusing footnotes, so be on the look out for those in the next chapter! :D_**

**Reviewwwwwww? :3**


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